Squeaks Turning the Wheel. Grinding sound. "Smokes"

Hey,
My daughters 99 ('00? manuf'd 8/9/99) Taurus did the following on her 2 hr ride back to school:

-- Would squeak or squeal when the steering wheel was turned
-- Would be harder to turn the wheel
-- Upon arrival, someone looked under hood with motor running. When wheel was turned, buzzing, grinding sound from by belt and some "smoke" or "dust" from by belt.

Any idea what the heck need fixed... Is it drivable...?

THANKS, Steve in VA

It sounds like the belt is slipping for some reason. Was this only when the A/C was on by chance? At a minimum you'll need a new belt. You'll also need to determine what is causing the belt to stretch or slip. You may have a bad bearing in the idler or tensioner pulleys, or you may have a belt driven accessory that is dragging (alternator, A/C compressor, power steering pump, etc.)

-Rod

Thanks. Don't know about AC. Was just diagnosing by long distance phone Definitely on while she drove. Probably off when I called and had her start it and turn wheel.
Auto parts guy just offered his take -- tensioner pulley. Sounds like easiest fix

May be barking up wrong tree, but would there be a constant squeal from other items causing drag? Or would noise occur while in use only..? Turning wheel seemed to cause the most 'symptoms'

Drivable or too risky... Thought I'd drive down and retrieve and fix here or ...try to fix there. Not thrilled about either...

S

It depends a bit on the "squeal." I could understand someone referring to a bearing noise as a "squeal" I suppose, but usually they chirp before they would get seized enough to cause a belt to slip and smoke.

If smoke was coming from the belt, I would not plan to drive the car more than a mile or two before the belt breaks. I'm not sure I'd plan to fix it sitting in a parking lot, especially given the various potential causes for the slipping belt.

-Rod

AC on this car has been ice cold. Spoke again to my kid who says last couple days it's taken "awhile" to cool off. Not the norm. Guess if the belts messed up it's not turning the compressor pulley, so less AC...don't know if that's a correct description ofhow this works

Above my pay grade as to how to find smoking gun of what's the cause here.
As to squeals vs chirps... (!) according to my kid the sound is more of a constant squeal than intermittent chirps, for what it's worth.

Any other insight, suggestions appreciated. THANKS! http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/shakehead.gif

My first inclination was its the power steering pump. Ford's are notorious for noisy PS pumps. The smoke could be caused from the pump blowing PS fluid on to a hot engine. If she turns the wheel and it squeals, the pump is under stress and if its dragging can cause the belt to squeal as well. Particularly if she drove for a period of time and the squeal was occurring the entire time I would look at the PS pump. Just my honest opinion.

The A/C clutch bearing might be junk too.It is a big job to remove the A/C compressor.Which engine,the 3.0 vulcan or the Duratec?If it is the Duratec,the radatior has to come out to get the A/C compressor out thanks to Ford's dumb engineers.

THANKS for great feedback.

Turned out to be a hose... Power steering high pressure hose with 'noise reduction muffler' (!). Had a small crack in it at one end and was spraying PS fluid.

Beyond my pay grade to fix so found a shop and made the short drive there. Shop guy said price of hose was $313 (aftermkt w/markup! -- Dealer price was $275). I found one at NAPA (part no. NPS7-2945) for $92.99. and they installed it. Labor was 2.5 hrs -- $150 -- for a total of about $250.

Seems to run great. No leaks.

Great, thanks for the response as to what it took to fix, and where to find the bargains!

-Rod